


In Your Place, A Monster I Do See

by HershelChocolate



Category: The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms (Album), The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Other, Possession, because I say so, nonbinary Lyf, odin is a bastard but its ok cause marius is here, they get to take naps together all is well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:22:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25838737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HershelChocolate/pseuds/HershelChocolate
Summary: Lyf still has nightmares about the Bifrost, even after they got picked up by the Mechanisms. They turn to Marius for comfort, but overcoming these fears may be more difficult than either could imagine.
Relationships: Lyfrassir Edda/Marius von Raum
Comments: 9
Kudos: 87





	In Your Place, A Monster I Do See

Marius opens his eyes at 2am and has no idea why.

He lies in bed for a moment, trying to get his train of thought rolling long enough to figure out a cause. After a minute or so, he picks up on a soft sound. Footsteps, pacing just outside his door. 

Marius groans softly and drags himself out of bed. He had a good idea of who was behind his door, and while he wasn't exactly unhappy about their presence, it was still two in the morning. 

The door slides open, and the pacing stops.

"Lyf."

"M-Marius...Did I wake you?"

Marius rubs an eye and yawns. Lyf takes that as a yes.

"I'm… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have...I knew this was a bad idea-"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Lyfrassir Edda, former Inspector Second Class in the Yggdrassil system. Since their world was destroyed by a rainbow-colored horror, they had been adrift through space. That is, until the Mechanisms discovered their ship, floating adrift in a particularly empty sector of space. The Bifrost, after destroying their home, had left its mark in Lyfrassir themself, and it was quite a sight when Marius and the others first stumbled upon them.

It had been a few months, but the mental and physical scars from the Bifrost Incident still remained ingrained in the former inspector, who was currently nervously running a hand through their silver hair, shot through with streaks of rainbow and tied in a loose braid that was beginning to come undone. They usually only got this fidgety after a particularly bad nightmare. 

"I don't want to keep you up, I can just go back to…"

They pause, staring in the general direction of the spare room that had become their own. Marius didn't let them finish their thought. He simply grabbed their hand and gently began walking towards the common room. 

Marius sat Lyf down on a couch, threw a spare blanket around their shoulders, and left to go make tea. Lyf wasn't exactly in a state to argue, and so they sat, trying to calm their shaking hands. A few minutes later, Marius returned with a pair of mugs, holding one out to Lyf.

"Ah, thank you."

"Of course. You know it's not a problem, right?"

Lyf sipped their tea. Marius always knew just the right amount of honey to add. It was a simple gesture, but it made all the difference.

"I know. I do, I just…"

"Ah. Not a lot of nice thoughts today, huh."

Lyf simply shook their head. Marius scooted closer to them, putting an arm around their shoulder. Lyf leaned into the touch, but still remained careful with their tea. They stayed like that for a moment, silently sipping their drinks as the panic Lyf felt in the last few minutes finally began to subside. 

When they finally spoke, their voice was barely more than a whisper.

"I still hear her sometimes. Odin. I've never been able to truly escape her. I can hear her calling to me after my nightmares… Especially tonight. I try not to listen but it's been getting… difficult."

Marius hugs them tighter, and Lyf finally sets down their cup of tea to return the gesture. 

"Forget what that bastard says, Lyf. You're safe here. She can't reach you. I won't let her."

Lyf is silent. Marius doesn't push the issue, simply letting them finally begin to relax. He isn't sure how long they've been like this until he realizes that Lyf has fallen asleep. He smiles softly, making sure not to disturb them as he gently moves to carry them back to his room. He doesn't want their rest to be interrupted by Jonny deciding to shoot someone as a greeting again.

He doesn't want to leave Lyf alone in their room. Not after what they just told him. And so he climbs back into bed, this time with Lyf in his arms. They stir gently as Marius gets them both settled, but they quickly relax once again, leaving the two to comfort each other as they sleep.

It's getting worse.

Lyf doesn't hesitate to seek out Marius anymore, the nightmares eventually occurring often enough that the two almost fall into a routine of waking up and finding the other. Each time flashes of rainbow flood their vision, and it takes every ounce of willpower not to scream at the sight. They had seen enough of the undulating hues to last a lifetime, or several lifetimes if Raphaella's immortality theory held true. Lyf didn't really care to test it. 

That wasn't the only side effect of being touched by the Bifrost. Their rainbow patterned hair and eyes were easy enough to notice, but sometimes they found themself hearing things. Static, usually, although sometimes, when they were having a bad enough day, they could almost hear screams interlaced with the feedback.

Lately they've noticed a new voice among the repeated calls of distress that accompany their thoughts after a nightmare. A calmer voice. One that spoke to them directly. 

The void sings.

And Lyfrassir was beginning to worry that they were starting to hear it.

The first time they recognized the voice to be Odin's, they were furious. The thought that even after all she had put their world through, being lost to the void in the endless cacophony of the Bifrost was not enough to get her away from them. But now Lyf had simply added her voice to the myriad of others that occasionally filtered into their thoughts. Until she began to speak more insistently. The night they had finally decided to try talking to Marius, Lyf had awoken with tears in their eyes and the taste of blood in their mouth.

But now more often than not they found themself wrapped in Marius' arms. His presence alone was calming enough that almost no problems arose when they were together. But some nights Lyf could tell that the constant interruption was starting to weigh him down. He did an excellent job of hiding it, always a ray of sunshine when the two sometimes stayed up into the night talking with each other. But Lyf could tell. Or maybe that was their fears playing tricks on them. It was becoming hard to tell.

And so a few weeks later Lyf found themself wide awake in the middle of the night with a strange reluctance to move from under their covers. Screams and flashes of color had filled their thoughts, and the waking world was not much better. Sometimes they thought they saw a moving shadow or a rainbow shine in the corner of their eye, but of course there was nothing there every time they checked.

Normally they'd already be at Marius' door by now but for some reason they hesitated. Marius would not be reluctant to let them stay again, but something inside of Lyf very sternly told them that it would be a bad idea.

They simply lay in bed, staring vacantly at the ceiling as thoughts swirled in their head until Lyf began to feel that these thoughts were not their own. It was a sudden and strange realization, but once they noticed it, it was impossible to ignore. 

They sat up quickly and instantly regretted it as they were suddenly overcome with dizziness. The room spun around them, and Lyf clutched their head and tightly shut their eyes in an effort to make everything calm down. When they finally felt stable enough to look up, they almost wished they hadn't. 

The walls of the room were shining in iridescent rainbow hues, the colors moving and shifting and giving the room a strangely reflective look. Everything had too much color, too much movement, too much light, and Lyf frantically scrambled out of bed in an effort to get away from it. 

The moment their feet touched the floor they fell to their knees. Screams and static flooded their mind, their arms and legs shaking too much for them to get a firm grip on anything to ground themself. Lyf slowly looked up, and somehow couldn't find it in themself to be surprised at the one-eyed figure looking back on them.

_"Lyfrassir Edda. I think it's about time we had a proper chat."_

It was 2am and Lyf wasn't here.

Marius wasn't surprised. It's not like they stopped by every night. But for some reason he found himself staring into his empty room, feeling a strange amount of loneliness.

Lyf had been having a hard time lately, and Marius knew this. He would never turn them away, and he knew they doubted this. He tried his best to be as inviting as possible, but he knew Lyf felt bad if they thought they were asking too much of him. 

Lyf didn't come into his room every night and he knew this. And yet, Marius still found himself standing up and leaving his room to go check on them.

He was only a few steps from their door when he noticed. The temperature in this area of the ship had dropped significantly, and Marius could see his breath form clouds in front of him. Shifting rainbow light spilled under the doorframe, and Marius rushed over and threw it open.

Marius immediately felt a rush of cold air as he took in the scene before him. Things from Lyfrassir's desk and shelves had been thrown across the room, shattered pieces of glass and splintered pieces of wood that used to be Lyf's things lining the edges of the room next to the walls that broke them open. The light in the room had shattered. And sitting in the middle of this debris was Lyf, sitting curled in on themself in the center of the room. 

The colors that covered every surface of the space intensified wherever Lyf touched. Marius could hear them muttering to themself, and he quickly stepped into the room, concern for Lyf overriding everything else. 

The second his foot touched the rippling rainbow floor, Lyf's head snapped up to face him. Their eyes were glowing and empty, the rainbow that usually refracted in their silver eyes now swallowing them whole. Marius stood, frozen in shock and concern, as he felt those empty shifting eyes watching him. 

And then Lyf smiled. 

_"Marius von Raum. I was wondering when you would arrive."_

The voice that came out of Lyf was not one that Marius recognized. He watched as they carefully stood up, every muscle shaking as if their body was protesting any movement it made. 

The thing that was not Lyf took a few shaky steps forward, expression never changing. Marius debated running, but he couldn't leave Lyf. Not like this.

_"I must say, I expected more. Pity."_

The colors that filled the room suddenly flashed, filling Marius with dread.

_"A shame that the honor of the first not of the Yggdrassil system to bear witness to the beauty of the Bifrost falls to you."_

A hand reached up to grab at him, but before Marius could react, Lyf froze. Their left hand grabbed their right, pulling it away as they struggled to fight against themself. Marius took a hesitant step forward, but as Lyf fell to their knees a sudden flash of light forced him to take a step back.

When everything dimmed, Marius blinked the spots from his eyes to see Lyf curled up on the floor. He wasn't sure if they were conscious or not, but he didn't care.

He didn't see the faint wall of light until he ran right into it. A step back and closer investigation revealed a small dome of pure white light, faintly covered in the reflective rainbow hues the rest of the room contained. Where Lyf lay was somehow protected from the shifting colors, but it prevented Marius from rushing to their aid when they began to cough.

"Lyf! Lyf, are you okay? What's happening, what-"

Marius' words died in his throat when he saw the expression on Lyf's face when they finally looked up. Pure hatred and fear, laced with exhaustion covered their features. Marius stared back, concern the only thing evident on his own face.

"What do you want from me." 

It was not a question, but a demand. And one that Marius had no idea how to respond to. He stuttered out the beginnings of a few sentences before he noticed Lyf backing away in fear. 

"Don't…don't come any closer! I won't let you hurt me, I won't let you hurt _him!"_

Marius didn't have time to ask what was going on before Lyf extended a hand. But he did have time to duck before a shot of rainbows, accompanied by the noise of static, scorched the wall behind him. Marius snapped to face Lyf.

"What the hell was that?! Lyf? What are you doing?!"

Lyf quickly backed away again, but this time instead of fear, Marius saw regret. Lyf turned away, hugging themself tight and shaking. 

It was only then that Marius thought to look back.

If anyone asked Marius to describe what he was seeing, he doubted he'd be able to tell them. A shifting mass of shadow and light, contradicting itself with every move as it stared at him with a singular dark eye. He didn't know what to say, didn't know how to react, before the thing in front of him smiled.

_"A shame, truly."_

Marius lunged forward, not sure of what he would do even if he managed to make contact, but the figure seemed to melt into the floor, dodging him with one quick move that left Marius slightly disoriented. He spun around to find it leaning over the shaking form of Lyf, the light of the wall of protection around them beginning to fade.

Marius ran to Lyf, and called out to them. He placed a single hand on their shoulder, and he too instantly fell to his knees.

Screams and static filled his mind, drowning all of his thoughts and feelings with dread and panic.

_"We're experiencing heavy interference, can anyone hear us?"_

_"I've lost contact-"_

_"All available units get down here, now! It's all going to shit!"_

_"Reports of widespread violence-"_

_"What does it all mean?"_

_"Can anyone hear us?"_

_"God, the colors..."_

Marius couldn't understand what he was hearing, couldn't form thoughts coherent enough to piece together what was happening. But he did manage to add one statement to the overlapping cacophony of horror.

_"I'll protect you."_

Everything else began to fade away as Marius and Lyf began to focus on the same thought. 

_"I'll protect you."_

Marius addressed it to Lyf. Lyf addressed it to Marius.

And together they looked up to face the swirling mass of colors before them.

Marius knew it then to be the form of Odin, and any recognition of the name filled his chest with hate. He could feel it radiating from Lyf as well, and with identical motions, the two raised a hand in her direction.

Screams and light filled the room, but the two held firm. At some point Marius grabbed Lyf's hand. All at once everything began to fade, and for one peaceful moment, everything was quiet.

And then the two collapsed at the same moment.

Lyf doesn't know how long they've been out, but they do know they have a killer headache.

They look over at the slowly stirring form of Marius and dread fills them as they recall the horrifying sight of Odin looming behind him, her smile filled with anticipation and malice. They don't know what they did to finally get rid of her, but even though they could still hear those old transmissions at the edge of their mind, her voice was not one of them. 

Lyf breathed a sigh of relief.

"You seem awfully happy for someone who just had a rainbowy meltdown."

Lyf turned their head to look at Marius, half sitting up on the floor next to them. He looked exhausted, and Lyf figured they did too.

"She's gone. She's finally gone."

"Oh yeah? Hey, that's good! Good, good…" 

Marius gave up on trying to sit up and simply flopped back down closer to Lyf. The two joined hands, staring up at the, thankfully blank, ceiling.

"So...does this happen every night?"

Lyf let out a short laugh, surprising themself with how bitter it sounded.

"If you mean do I see a shifting corrupted facade of what Odin used to be. Then no."

"Yeah that'd be pretty fucked up."

The two lay in silence for a few minutes, both of them still trying to process what happened.

"Hey Lyf?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

Lyf looked over. "About what?"

Marius half shrugged. "About all of this, really. You've been dealing with this for so long and I… I could have done more."

Lyf leaned closer to Marius, their eyes bright and determined.

"Marius. You could not have done more for me than what you already have. You listened to me. You stayed with me. I mean, Hel, you even helped me finally get rid of her. I don't know if it's for good but I know it's good enough for me."

Marius stared back into Lyf's silver eyes, their love and stubbornness shining through.

And Marius didn't hesitate to close the gap between them.

Marius opens his eyes at 2am.

He glances down at Lyf, still curled up by his side. They looked peaceful. 

Marius smiles to himself, and drifts back off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I also posted a link to this on my tumblr hershelchocolateart if you would like to share!


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